 "Photo: Michael Ralph")
Although the most compelling games between the universities of Maine and New Hampshire usually occur at the Whittemore Center, the game that the two schools' basketball teams put on across the street in the Lundholm Gymnasium was one that had the crowd ready to explode by the end of regulation.
Albeit the more storied rivalry exists between the two university hockey teams, the UNH Wildcats hosted the University of Maine Black Bears men's basketball team on Saturday and it was one for the ages. The Black Bears triumphed over the Wildcats 75-72 in an overtime thriller.
The 'Cats at one point trailed by 19 but spurred a late fourth quarter comeback to force overtime after having the game-winning basket come within inches of the rim.
With just under ten seconds left in regulation and the score tied at 60, junior Tyrece Gibbs, UNH's America East Player of the game, drove the lane and passed to cutting freshman Dane DiLiegro. DiLiegro went up for the dunk, but Maine's Phil Bofia sent the ball careening the other way with a game saving block.
Gibbs led UNH in scoring with 20 points. Junior Eric Gilchrese also contributed a solid 16 points, four boards and five assists.
With the loss the 'Cats fell to 7-15 (4-6 in America East) and suffered their third loss in a row. Head coach Bill Herrion said his team got the ball where they wanted to get it on that final possession but spoke of the loss in a dejected fashion.
"When you shoot 33 percent from the field and you have a shot to win the game in overtime, to lose… that bites at you. That hurts," said Herrion.
For the second straight home game, UNH shot the ball very poorly but were able to mount a comeback due to their defense on key possessions and turned what looked to be a first half laugher into a winnable overtime game.
Perhaps one reason the Wildcats were able to make it a game was because Maine's Mark Socoby, who shot them out of the gym in the first half, came back down to earth in the second half before making a few clutch baskets at the end of over-time.
Socoby tallied 21 first half points while shooting 7-9 from the field (4-5 from long range) but only mustered eight points through the second half and into the extra frame.
With 23 seconds left, Sacoby hit a jumper off the glass to ice the win for Maine, 73-69. Although UNH eventually fell, the 'Cats did battle back. If any spectators left the Lundholm Gymnasium at halftime, they missed a really gutsy performance that almost ended in a win.
Senior Mike Christensen would have become the 25th Wildcat to tally 1,000 career points with one more point in the game. He spoke of missed chances to snag a critical win after the game.
"Blown opportunities is probably the best comment," said Christensen. "Things we do every day in practice didn't fall for us tonight."
Gilchrese echoed his teammate's comments.
"We're just disappointed. We just have to put two halves together," he said.
UNH has come out flat and fallen behind in back to back home games, the other against Boston University a 67-52 loss on February 2. Both times the 'Cats had to claw back into the game but fell short.
Coach Herrion spoke about making improvements and trying to fix what ails them as they close out the season.
"We missed numerous layups," said Herrion. "In a game like this everything gets magnified…At this level of basketball any good team has to have players on the perimeter to shut people down. We don't have that."
Herrion also talked about the fact that without a viable inside game in the post the Wildcats are forced to drive the lane to try to get a high percentage shot or get fouled.
UNH didn't get a lead until 6:46 left in the game when a Gilchrese trey put the Wildcats ahead 54-53. Christensen spoke after the game about playing a whole game whether it is 40 or 45 minutes.
"We keep playing in spurts," he said, "we need to stop having so many highs and lows and be steady throughout the game."
With only five games left in the regular season, all of which are critical America East games, the 'Cats will need to improve play if they figure to make any noise in the post season.
The Wildcats travel to New York this week to play Binghamton on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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